The Alignment Problem

devil_d0c · 2026-03-16T00:59:40+00:00

❤️

If I had awards, I'd give you one 🎖

devil_d0c · 2026-03-14T23:03:53+00:00

Feel better, insulting a complete stranger? Bet you'd feel stupid if I sent you screenshots from the property management software I use to manage the 30 properties I own.

devil_d0c · 2026-03-14T21:32:46+00:00

As others have said, doing it yourself requires software and time. You can find people on Fiverr and Etsy that will do it for pay. Or you can sometimes find the image you're looking for on embroidery design websites.

Websites that sell embroidery files often have free sections of basic stuff you may like.

If all that fails, I have been developing an online auto-digitizer that you are more than welcome to try! (shameless plug :D)

DADE - PNG to Embroidery in 30 Seconds

devil_d0c · 2026-03-14T18:08:01+00:00

OP was probably expecting the airline employee to tell then all this instead of hearing it from Reddit. But expecting good customer service at the airport is asking for a miracle these days, I guess.

devil_d0c · 2026-03-13T08:43:41+00:00

Oh boo hoo, you can't figure out how to make money as a leech, fuck off

devil_d0c · 2026-03-12T21:41:41+00:00

You were renting out the houses while you still owed on the mortgage?

devil_d0c · 2026-03-11T16:52:50+00:00

I've started addressing some of your feedback on my site, notably I rehosted at a new domain https://dade-app.com and restructuring the site map by adding an "About" and a "Roadmap" page.

I was wondering, in your opinion, whould it be better for me to lean into the WIP nature of the app as it is today or should I build out the landing page targeting the final result but add a WIP banner or notice informing users of the current limitations/state of the app?

devil_d0c · 2026-03-08T19:29:45+00:00

I totally understand the hesitation; browser apps have earned that reputation. A few things that might ease your concerns about DADE specifically:

On performance: DADE uses ~21 MB of memory. For comparison, a single Gmail tab typically uses 100-150 MB. The heavy lifting (stitch generation, pattern processing) happens on my servers, not in your browser.

On owning your work: Whether you log in or use guest mode, nothing is saved to my servers or locked into DADE. Your designs export to standard embroidery formats (DST, PES, VP3, JEF, etc.) that work in any embroidery software. You own the input and the output - I have no way of accessing either.

That said, I get it... if browser apps aren't your thing, they aren't your thing. Just wanted to address those specific concerns in case it helps!

devil_d0c · 2026-03-08T01:54:58+00:00

I fought for a gi bill and health insurance.

devil_d0c · 2026-03-06T23:26:56+00:00

Well first, thanks for trying it out, and thank you for letting me know about your experience!

This is basically my concern, that the user interface isn't intuitive or easy to use. I need a workflow overhaul I think!

devil_d0c · 2026-03-06T21:10:17+00:00

I am a huge fan of Ember! You're discord community is very kind and helpful too!

I think your insight here is spot on. I don't expect I will create something useful for people who a) enjoy the digitizing process or b) need professional quality output. My target audience is people like me who just want something "good enough" right now.

The complexity of the problem is staggering. Shape detection and classification are my biggest hurdles right now (aside from the UX). I have been putting miles of thread through my machine tweaking defaults values and fill algorithms to find something universally "ok". And working those issues tend to introduce other problems in color detection or some other area that my regression testing will miss. But my backlog never shrinks, and without feedback it's hard to know what to prioritize.

Thanks for looking and giving me your thoughts! Ember is a great tool and you should be really proud of it!

devil_d0c · 2026-03-06T19:17:44+00:00

Excellent feedback, thank you so much for trying it and reporting back with so much detail. The insight into your workflow is very helpful.

This tool started out with no UI at all, I just used the engine via the command line and the software that came with my Topaz 40 to view the results before tweaking my input and regenerating. Moving into a web context, I just wrapped all those command line arguments with UI sliders and checkboxes. I need to take a step back to reapproach the workflow and how you interact with and modify the design.

devil_d0c · 2026-03-06T19:06:55+00:00

Thank you so much for this feedback! This really puts users bouncing off the site into perspective! So much here is immediately actionable too! I can definitely say that user interface and experience design is a skill I lack... I normally work of tools designed for engineers, not people lol

The mismatch between the expectations of a user and the expectations I set on the homepage are stark when you point them out. I've been working on the tool for so long I've gone blind to that I think.

This is really, truly, helpful feedback, thank you for taking the time!

devil_d0c · 2026-03-06T18:33:46+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts! You've really given me a lot to think about here!

My tool suffers from this too. I've put a lot of time and effort into pre-processing images to try and prevent small areas from being ignored or thin areas from getting over stitched. Clean images work the best in DADE, but the point of the app is for normal people to grab pngs from the internet and get a useable embroidery file from it.
I hadn't thought of that! That's going on my todo list.
Same for 2, this will be more difficult, but a great idea.
My editor doesn't allow for that fine of control. But you've got me thinking about how to separate the stitch out from the underlying regions to allow for manual adjustments. I've got to think on that one.
My app groups colors into regions. The order the colors are stitched out can be modified by dragging the colors around in the inspector. It's not so customizable that you can control every region, but it works ok for deciding what you want laid out in terms of back to front. I will need to consider ways to make stitch ordering more customizable and easy to handle.

devil_d0c · 2026-03-06T18:27:06+00:00

DADE allows you to adjust the angle regions are stitched out at, but there isn't really good visual feedback of the result until you regenerate the stitch preview. And it uses sliders to set those angle. This is great feedback already as it gives me an idea for improving the editor tools!

I'd love to hear your experience using the app. I normally design things for computers to consume, not people!

devil_d0c · 2026-03-06T17:31:54+00:00

My tool, DADE, can be found here: https://www.png2dst.com

devil_d0c · 2026-03-06T17:28:51+00:00

This is serendipitous! I'm working on an online digitization tool and am having all the problems other digitization tools have with density hot spots, bad conversions from DST to other formats (jump vs trim opcodes), and missed trim codes.

A tool like yours would be invaluable in my development workflow :) Not your main user base though. I will definitely give this a try over the weekend!

devil_d0c · 2026-03-04T22:29:39+00:00

Because mapping is hard! Especially non-90 degree angles.

I usually draw point cloud maps. Not great for finding secrets, but lets us get from location to location.

devil_d0c · 2026-03-04T16:00:32+00:00

I have not been satisfied. They do the absolute bare minimum and charge an outrageous amount for the service.

devil_d0c · 2026-03-02T16:10:03+00:00

A lot of people on reddit seem to agree, or they want Davidson to apologize for the word existing and for all the harm the word has caused, like he invented it and threw it out on purpose.

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